Volkan Oezdemir: ‘Jon Jones is gonna have to know more about me’

Swiss Volkan Oezdemir says UFC light heavyweight champ Jon Jones, who recently referred to him as “that Russian guy,” is going to have to do his research if he wants to keep his top spot.

Oezdemir fought againt top contender Jimi Manuwa this past weekend and scored yet another victory in less than a minute, knocking Manuwa out with short shots in the clinch followed up by a left hand.

“I don’t know what the game plan was there. I think you should always go with your strengths,” Oezdemir told BloodyElbow.com’s The MMA Circus. “I was surprised, but it played out really good for me.”

Oezdemir is no more than one win away from a title shot, meaning that Jon Jones is going to have to do his research on Oezdemir.

During an interview before UFC 214 Jones referred to Oezdemir, who is already targeting a fight with Jones, as “that Russian guy.” Oezdemir was born in Switzerland and partly comes from Turkish decent.

“He’s gonna have to know more about me, for sure,” Oezdemir said.

“I better be (next in line), because Gustafsson fought [Jones],” Oezdemir said. “I’m fresh, I’m here, I’m new. See what I just did. Right now, it’s all about momentum, so if [Jones] goes to heavyweight to fight Brock Lesnar, it’s killing the momentum, too. I think we need to build up the fight, and I think I’ll be a really, really good opponent for him.”

“Gustafsson was the No. 1 contender for a while. He has history with Jon Jones, and I think fans want to see the rematch. That’s four years ago. That’s a long time. Maybe it’s time for some new blood.”

“Jon Jones is 205. 205 is Jon Jones. You cannot put those two separately,” Oezdemir said. “Even if he is gonna fight heavyweight, he’s gonna come back to his weight class, because everybody knows his weight class is 205 — that’s where he belongs. I’m not worried about that. I know he’s gonna come back. Maybe he’ll do one or two money fights in heavyweight, but, of course, he’s gonna come back to defending the belt.”

“Nobody will still know who I am, because I keep finishing my fights in like one minute. So people will keep putting me in the underdog position,” Oezdemir said. “I’m just gonna bring in the element of surprise.”